


Leave the Present Behind

by OccamyEggshells



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, F/M, Not Canon Compliant, Saving Percival Graves, Time Travel, Tina's a time traveller, and she's Queenie's great-granddaughter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-12 00:20:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17457056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OccamyEggshells/pseuds/OccamyEggshells
Summary: Professor Tina Kowalski was supposed to be sent into the past for two days, but when her time travel device is broken, she has no choice but to start her life over 100 years before her birth.





	1. Chapter One

“Your goal is to document and report, and most importantly not to get involved,” Dominique Graves instructs, pacing in front of the recruits as she speaks. Twenty of America’s best magical historians stand before her, all listening carefully to what she says. “The fragility of time is something that should not be taken lightly, and any disturbance, intentional or not, will be considered an act of treason.”

Tina shifts uncomfortably in her boots. She’s one of the youngest in the group and getting invited to travel the past was and still is, a huge shock. The project is submerged in such secrecy that Tina has taken to looking over her shoulder at every turn. Now that Graves is talking about treason, she worries that she may accidentally mess everything up.

“Rest up recruits, tomorrow you go back.” With a stiff nod, Graves leaves the room and the shoulders sag of each in the lineup.

Most of the historians are in their sixties or seventies, the outliers of the group include a woman well over one hundred then, Tina, and Lysander at the other end of the scale. Lysander Alexander ‘Yes, I know it’s a terrible name’ Scamander is in his mid-thirties, making him a good ten years older than Tina is.

He approaches Tina as everyone starts to leave. “Are you okay?” He asks curiously, his hands in his pockets as he projects some sort of calming aura that she’s always associated with him. “You look pale,” he adds on for an explanation behind his question.

“I’m fine,” Tina responds. In truth, she’s feeling more anxious than ever before. “Are you excited?”

Lysander considers the question before nodding. “I don’t want to fuck everything up, obviously, but this is going to be such an extraordinary learning experience.”

“You’re right,” Tina says walking with Lysander out of the deepest part of MACUSA. “What if I sneeze and it distracts someone, then the whole future falls apart? I want to do a good job.”

“Tina, listen,” he turns to her and puts his hands on her shoulders. “You’re one hell of a smart witch, you’re not going to mess anything up.”

“You don’t know that,” Tina says, shrugging off his hands.

“Yes, I do, because if you did royally fuck up, then the entire future,” he shakes his head and corrects himself, “the entire present would be fucked up.”

“Or I did fuck up the present already reflects it,” Tina says with a scowl.

“That’s the spirit!” Lysander says brightly as they continue on their walk. “Stop being so down on yourself, it makes you more susceptible to a nargle infestation.”

* * *

 

Tina sits on the edge of the bed in her tiny New York apartment. In her hands, she holds the envelope containing her assignment. In theory, it sounds straightforward. She’s supposed to go back and observe a critical historical event and record finer details that lead up to it. Ever since Tina was little, she liked listening to her grandparents’ stories about how different the world was. When she was old enough to go to Ilvermorny, Tina just about locked herself in the library to learn all that she could about history. It wasn’t uncommon for her to stay up all night entranced by the pages of passed down records. History of Magic was the class that defined her. After graduation, she took over the course and had become Ilvermorny’s youngest professor.

“You’re a part of history now,” Esther, her mother, had told her when she got the letter inviting her to teach.

Tina sighs and breaks the seal of her letter, letting her reminiscing fade away. Her parents died the year prior and it still hurt Tina to think about it. She pulls out a crisp white card, flipping it over, she recognizes Dominique Graves’s elegant scrawl. 

_ December 16th - 17th, 1926, New York City, New York.  _

_ The identification of the obscurus and the first capture of Gellert Grindelwald. _

Personally, Tina was hoping to get an assignment pertaining to Voldemort, but she has studied Grindelwald in depth and is genuinely curious about how charismatic he truly was. Pleased with this assignment, she picks up her wand and lights the card on fire as Graves had instructed.

Just to make sure she’s aware of what she’s getting herself into, she grabs her phone off its charger and goes to Google, fully prepared to spend the night refreshing her knowledge of the details.

* * *

 

“Are you related to Newt Scamander?” Tina asks, jogging up to Lysander an hour before they’re supposed to get sent back.

Lysander finishes his sip of coffee and nods. “He’s my great-grandfather, on my father’s side.”

“I think we’re related,” Tina says. “My great-grandmother’s sister is your great-grandmother. I was reading about my assignment and my great-grandmother’s name came up along with your great-grandfather’s so I did research and realized that the family trees connect.”

“Okay, so we share great-great-grandparents?” Lysander asks, a smile spreading across his face. “That’s fucking awesome.”

Tina nods and sits next to him. “What’s your assignment?” She asks him.

“June 23, 1927,” Lysander says, “Grindelwald’s escape from MACUSA.”

“I’m six months before you,” Tina rubs her eyes a bit, exhausted from staying up almost all night. “I got Grindelwald’s capture in the subway system.”

“You were supposed to be well rested,” Lysander hands her his half-drunk coffee. “Come on, get caffeinated so I don’t lose you.”

“I’m a professor,” she takes a long drink before continuing, “I can stay up all night grading essays and then bounce back after three hours of sleep.”

“You’re in your twenties, that’ll change.”

* * *

 

“Identify your given name.” Graves instructs as unspeakables put a wristwatch on Tina’s arm. Tina wonders briefly why she can’t put the watch on herself, but she decides not to comment.

“Tina Esther Kowalski.”

“We’ve decided to give you an alias,” Graves says, passing an ID card to an unspeakable, who then, in turn, hands it to Tina.

Flipping it open, Tina reads the name with a frown. “Porpentina Esther Goldstein?” She looks up at Graves. “That can’t be a possible name ma’am, I’ve researched this and someone with that name was already involved with this. She was my great-grandmother’s sister. Ask Lysander, he’s a direct descendant.”

“Kowalski,” Graves says apologetically, showing genuine concern for the first time that Tina’s seen. “There’s evidence that Porpentina Goldstein never existed before 1926.”

Tina realizes what is happening. Tears well in her eyes. “You’re going to send me to the past and abandon me.”

“The MACUSA unspeakables received a sealed envelope in the year 1927, with express instructions not to open it until a month ago. It was written by you, telling of how your watch gets destroyed. Scamander, as in Lysander, tried to bring you back with him when you naturally caught up to his send back date, but something went wrong. You then decide to make the most of being suck in the past and live out your life starting anew from that point,” Graves explains.

Tina drops down onto her knees, tears streaming down her cheeks. “That’s not possible,” she whispers. “I don’t want to do this assignment. I want to go back home and prepare lesson plans.”

“You’re already committed to this project, and we in this office will not be responsible for messing with time.” Graves makes a motion with her hand to each other the unspeakables.

Two of them lift Tina up by her elbows, while the other grabs her wrist. A cry comes from deep inside Tina’s being, but she has no way to express it other than to cry.

The unspeakable grabbing her wrist sets the date for December of 1926. Graves is using powerful nonverbal magic to keep Tina still in the unspeakables grasp. “Please,” she whispers, her voice having gone raw from emotion. “Don’t do this.”

“It don’t hurt,” Bernadette, an unspeakable who Tina recognizes tells her. The button on the side of the watch is pressed, and all the unspeakables let go of her as to not get pulled back as well.


	2. Chapter Two

The room seems to spin around her as she sees time reverse. Although she’s extremely disoriented, Tina tries to wrestle the watch off her wrist. The latch is proving too difficult for her shaking hands. With a jolt, Tina falls forward onto the ground. Now that the watch is done bringing her through time, it transitions into a portkey. She has a moment to look and see that she’s in the same room as before when she feels herself being transported again.

Below her, Tina feels something comfortable. A light smell of perfume is in the room as Tina lifts her head up. She’s laying on a couch in a narrow apartment. A record is playing a classic song from the 1920s. Rolling onto her back, Tina raises her wrist and check the watch. In her struggle, she had accidentally damaged it. The glass and clock face is broken, turning her wrist, toward her other hand, she dumps out small shards of glass and one of the clock hands. Fine glitter dust gathers in her palm.

With a terrible sinking feeling in her stomach, Tina realizes that the reason her watch was damaged in the letter was because she had tried so hard to fight against it. Tina wonders if there was an original timeline where the watch had been damaged without her influence.

Taking a deep breath, Tina puts all that is in her palm on top of the broken watch. She grabs her wand and points it at her wrist. “Repario.” The glass and minute hand fly neatly back into their places, but the sand stays where it is. It shimmers innocently on top of the glass. Tina slides her wand back in its holster and changes the date on the watch to the present. 

Pressing the button, Tina waits for her body to be whisked through time, but nothing happens. When they all went to training, they were told that each individual watch can go backward once, and then forward once. When their assignment period was over, they were to report back immediately. If they ran into an emergency, they could always come back early. The sand, Tina acknowledges, is most likely derived from the old time-turners of the late 20th century.

Sitting up on the couch, Tina lets the sand fall onto the ground, blending in with the antique rug. Lysander was going to save her, she thinks, trying to stop herself from crying again. Even if it won’t work, at least there’s someone out there who will miss her.

That’s the thought that sends her spiraling. Nobody is going to miss her if she didn’t go back. She doesn’t have any siblings, her parents are dead, she hasn’t heard from her grandparents in almost five years, and she isolated all of her friends so she could research more. Talking to Lysander is more of a professional thing than a social thing, and she was planning on never talking to him again after this. Her students and colleagues wouldn’t miss her, they’d probably fill the position easily in the fall and it would be like Tina was never there to begin with.

Porpentina E. Scamander, from what Tina understands, was a completely different woman than she is. Mrs. Scamander was assertive, a war hero, sensible, brave, and was seemingly loved by the public. When she died fifteen years previous to Tina’s timeline, the internet blew up. Maybe, the small optimistic part of her mind thinks, this was all for the best.

Tina buries her face in her hands and cries some more.

“Are you okay?”

Gasping and reaching for her wand, Tina stares at the woman who just walked into the apartment. “Who are you?” 

“You’re crying,” the woman levitates a shopping bag to the counter. “Just lower your wand and we can talk this out.”

Tina almost drops her wand in shock. “You’re Queenie Kowalski,” she’d been reading about her great-grandmother all night. She looks exactly like the picture in the newspaper. 

“Kowalski?” Queenie tilts her head. “What are you saying?”

“I’m Tina Kowalski, and I-” She doesn’t know what to say, unsure if it’s still treason for her to destroy the future. It must not be because Graves sent her back with the purpose of leaving her in the past. MACUSA could have sent her portkey anywhere, but they decided on her great-grandmother’s apartment for a reason.

“A time traveler!” Queenie gasps, running forward and pulling Tina into a tight hug. Tina makes a soft noise as the other woman squeezes her happily. Awkwardly, Tina puts her arms around Queenie and loosely hugs her back. She curses her own stupidity for forgetting that Queenie can read minds.

“Tell me everything!” Queenie lets go of her and runs over to start the kettle for hot chocolate. “Are we related?”

Tina swallows the lump in her throat, remembering how Lysander said that anything she does in the past technically already happened in her present. Tina moves to the kitchen table and sits down in one of the chairs. “Everything I tell you has to stay between us. I’m only telling you because I’m not well versed in occlumency and I need your help.”

Queenie nods encouragingly and Tina’s a bit startled with herself by how much she already trusts the other woman.

* * *

Not knowing what else to do with herself, Tina stands outside of the bank, watching the obscurus. He looks miserable, but Tina’s not sure how to help him. In history’s eyes, Credence Barebone is a success story. He’s the first person to survive an obscurus extraction. Barebone went on to fight MACUSA’s legal systems to allow marriages between magical and non-magical people, and better searches for no-maj born wizard and witches. It’s because of Credence Barebone that her great-grandparents could get married and Nathaniel Kowalski, Tina’s grandfather, was able to attend Ilvermorny.

There aren’t any pictures, from what Tina could find, of Barebone before the extraction. He looks weaker than the powerful wizard he will become. In fact, if Tina didn’t have hindsight, she’d almost think that Barebone was incapable of anything. Even though Tina knows Credence will be okay, her heart breaks as he hands a pamphlet to someone, his eyes glued to the ground.

She takes a bite of her hotdog as she keeps watching the Second Salemers. A man bumps in her and mumbles an apology. Tina scowls and adjusts her position again when another man bumps into her. He also throws back an apology, before colliding with the first man. Tina can’t help but roll her eyes.

Mary-Lou Barebone continues on her rant, picking out the first man from the crowd and asking him questions. On the staircase, Tina swears she spots a niffler. Her hand automatically goes to her pocket to grab her phone so she can take a picture of it. When she finds nothing, she curses to herself before jogging up the steps to investigate. 

For a moment, she wonders if she should have stayed outside and taken notes to pass on to Lysander to complete her assignment, but she can’t bring herself to care. The man who first bumped into her is moving around the bank in the oddest manner. If this was happening in the modern day, people would be taking videos of him just to make fun of him. At one point, he wipes around and Tina ducks behind a column. She recognizes him from her studies. He’s Newt Scamander.

Racking her mind, Tina tries to think of everything she knows about him. He’s related to Theseus Scamander, they’re either cousins or brothers, she isn’t too sure. She studied them in different contexts. Newt’s the author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, he has an Order of Merlin 2nd class for contributions to magizoology, he created the werewolf registry, and structured breeding laws in Britain.

Tina glares at the back of Newt’s head. The werewolf registry was a controversial law that was eventually overturned by Edward R. Lupin in 2029. There were talks of taking away Scamander’s Order of Merlin, on account of making sharp divides between infected and uninfected, leading to many people not being able to seek help. If Tina remembers it correctly, Scamander was only able to keep the Order of Merlin after they drug him in front of the Wizengamot and made him formally apologize.

Scamander has wandered off while Tina was thinking. She adjusts the hat that Queenie gave her and goes outside the bank to look for him. By luck, Scamander is below her, adjusting the coat of a no-maj. With a gasp, Tina leans on the rail and realizes that the other man is her great-grandfather, Jacob Kowalski. As soon as she makes this realization, Jacob hits Newt in the face with one of the two identical suitcases before taking off down the alley.

Tina knows that Jacob just took the famous suitcase, leaving Newt with one full of pastries. If Newt catches up to him, they might realize the mistake and the creatures might never escape from the case. If the creatures never escape, then when the obscurus loses control, Scamander won’t be there to obliviate the entire city and save the wizarding world from exposure.

Apparating to the end of the alley, Tina walks toward Newt. Her goal is to distract him until Jacob can open the case. She grabs his elbow and apparates them both into a doorway she had passed on her way to the bank. Quickly, she pushes him out of view and against a wall.

“Who are you?” She asks, a bit too aggressively, trying to make it believable that she doesn’t know who he is.

“I’m sorry,” Newt mumbles, diverting his eyes.

“Who are you?” She asks again, more urgently now that her adrenaline has kicked in.

“Newt Scamander,” he says, glancing up to look at her, “and you are?”

Tina racks her mind for how to respond. She’s dismissing introducing herself because of some deep internal fear that he’d somehow know that he’s supposed to marry someone with her exact alias. She supposes that she’ll have to ask a question to divert the conversation, but she doesn’t know what to ask. She already knows why he’s in America, she knows what a niffler is since it’s the creature that took the blood pact from Grindelwald, and she knows that he didn’t oblivate Jacob.

There’s a long pause in the conversation, and in that time Newt has summoned the courage to move his finger toward her lip. “I’m sorry you’ve got something on your-”

Tina moves her head back, not wanting him to touch her. “Why in the name of Deliverance Dane did you let that thing loose?”

“I didn’t mean to, he’s encourageable. He sees anything shiny and-.”

“You could not have chosen a worse time to let that creature loose,” Tina tells him, knowing how strict America’s laws on magical creatures are in the 1920s. Especially with Credence being confused with a beast. It’s surprising that an auror hasn’t arrested Newt yet.

“You committed a section 3A, Mr. Scamander,” she continues. “MACUSA is going to be on your case for not oblivating the no-maj.”

“I’m sorry, that what?” He asks.

“The muggle,” she corrects, having read the term numerous times online and in books.

“Yes, well, I better be off then. Wouldn’t want MACUSA to turn this into an ordeal,” he says, moving away from the wall and going back out onto the street.

“No, you don’t.” Tina hurries after him, knowing that it’s too early for him to realize he doesn’t have the correct case. She doesn’t have any real reason to stop him so she decides to lie through her teeth and see if it works. “Mr. Scamander,” she grabs his elbow again, which startles him. “It’s best if you don’t go just yet. You could get even more charges for just leaving the scene of the crime.”

“What do you suggest I do then?” Newt asks, looking at her curiously. He clearly doesn’t understand her, which is something she has in common with him because she had no idea what she’s doing either.

“Let’s go find the no-maj ourselves. If we oblivate him then there will be no need for MACUSA to get involved.”

“I’m sorry if this sounds rude, but why are you helping me?” He asks.

“It’s a long story, Mr. Scamander.”

* * *

“I don’t even know your name,” Newt says after Tina leads aimlessly through the city for an hour. They’ve stayed in relative silence for the most part until now.

“Tina Goldstein,” she responds. Taking him in the general direction of where she thinks Jacob might live.

“It’s pleasure to meet you, Ms. Goldstein,” Newt responds before going back to admiring the city around him.

Habit almost makes Tina request to go by her first name, but back in the 1920s people didn’t go by their first names to strangers.

* * *

Evening sets in as Tina brings Newt and a very sickly Jacob up the stairs to the apartment. Once she and Newt identified where Jacob lived, they repaired his apartment and brought him back to Queenie’s place so that he can be healed. Newt anxiously looks to Jacob, and Tina realizes the only reason he hasn’t run off to get his creatures is because he isn’t going to leave the other man until he’s sure that he’s okay.

“Is that you, Queenie?” The landlady yells up the stairs.

The three of them freeze on the stairs. Tina doesn’t think she could possibly do a good enough Queenie impression to convince Mrs. Epecito. They stand in absolute silence. Tina hopes this is enough to make the landlady think that she was hearing things. Peeking down between the railings, Tina sees the Mrs. Epecito step back into her apartment. Breathing a sigh of relief, she ushers them quickly into Queenie’s apartment.

“Teenie, you brought men home,” Queenie looks at her curiously, and Tina can’t help but feel guilty since she’s severely encroached upon on Queenie’s life since meeting her that very morning. 

Earlier that morning, after quickly establishing her relationship as Queenie’s great-granddaughter, Tina explained how she was stranded in the past destined to grow old and die without ever going back. That lead to Queenie holding her while she cried for a while. After the tears were shed, Queenie suggested that Tina embrace her identity and they could make it work somehow.  _ “I’ve always wanted a sister,”  _ Queenie had told her.  _ “And now I have one.” _

* * *

“Is that Jacob fellow the man I’m going to marry?” Queenie asks.

Tina sits across from her in pink pajamas that Queenie had lent her. There isn’t another bed in the apartment, so Tina has to share with Queenie. 

“Yes,” Tina bites her lip, feeling uncomfortable about this. “You don’t have to marry him, don’t feel obligated.”

“He’s sweet. I ain’t ever heard a mind like his before.”

Tina nods and picks at a loose piece of thread on the quilt of the bed. “You said at dinner that your parents died of dragon pox. I didn’t know that.”

Queenie frowns and looks down. “It was real hard when they died. It was just me alone and they sent me to live with some aunt that I’d never met before. She didn’t really have an interest in me, so I kept out of her way until Ilvermorny. Then, I’d just stay at school over the breaks.”

“I’m sorry that happened to you,” Tina says, feeling grateful that she at least had her parents into adulthood.

“It’s okay, it made me stronger I think,” Queenie smiles at her before climbing under the covers.

Tina sighs and gets off the corner of the bed. She goes to lean out against the window. “Aren’t you going to sleep?” Queenie asks her.

Shaking her head, Tina keeps her eyes out toward Central Park. She’s pretty sure Newt and Jacob have snuck out and are headed there now to go chase down creatures. “I’ll sleep later.”

“When was the last time you rested?” Queenie asks. “You look almost dead at your feet.”

“I’m fine,” Tina lies. In truth, she’d hardly slept the night before, and moving through time as emotionally, physically, and magically drained her. 

“You have to at least try to lay down, Teenie,” Queenie says gently.

“Stop calling me that,” Tina mumbles, feeling as though Queenie’s calling her childish for her age.

Queenie looks away and sighs. “I’m just trying to help you. That’s what family does.”

Tina can’t help but feel guilty. “I know that, and I’m sorry. This is all just so new to me.”

“I’m not calling you childish,” Queenie says.

“Teen is a term from the 1940s,” Tina explains. “To describe the ages that end in the word teen.”

“I can’t be calling you a teen if I’m almost fifteen years off to the term’s creation.”

“You can call me Teenie if you want, I just forgot that you don’t understand my slang,” Tina walks away from the window and casts a quick cleaning charm on her clothes. She starts to put them back on.

“Now what are you doing?” Queenie asks. “Do you know how hard it is to read your mind? It’s like trying to dissect another language.”

“I’m sorry,” Tina says. “You stay here, I have to go after Jacob and Newt.”

“They’re asleep in the other room,” Queenie says, confused by everything Tina has to say.

“They ran out about half an hour ago,” Tina finishes changing. “Don’t forget to set that alarm clock for your night shift.” With that, Tina leaves the room.

Queenie sits on the bed and looks out at where Tina just left. “But I made them cocoa,” she mumbles with a frown.

* * *

Tina runs off the bridge and onto the ice. She stumbles a bit but quickly sits herself down on top of the case before she completely falls down. The obscurus destroys New York in the morning, just as the sun is about to rise. They’re still about three hours off from that point. Tina takes a shaky breath as she leans her head back against the cobblestone of the underside of the bridge. The creatures have escaped, her great-grandparents met, Newt and Jacob have become friends, half the creatures are caught, and Credence is probably killing Senator Shaw as she sits.

A feeling of dread fills Tina’s stomach as she tries to resist the urge to vomit. She’s a witch, there must have been some way for her to save the senator. How many other lives could have been saved if she just was a bit more proactive? What devastation and what wars could Tina amend with the power of hindsight? Is she a terrible person for not preventing these things?

Getting up from her spot on the case, Tina stumbles over to a nearby bush and throws up. She takes a minute to calm her breathing before straightening back up. Casting a mouth washing spell, Tina shivers at the uncomfortable after taste of it.

There’s still three hours until the subway, and she isn’t sure how to fill the time. Racking her mind again, she wonders if all the pieces are in place. She has Newt, Jacob, and Queenie. Credence should be on history’s correct path since she hasn’t interfered with him. Grindelwald is still impersonating Graves.

“Graves!” Tina says out loud to herself, feeling completely stupid for forgetting about him. Percival Graves was the head auror when Grindelwald stole his identity and hid him somewhere in the city. At some point during the final night, Graves escapes and joins the battle of the subway. Every piece of research she has tells of how everyone would have assumed Graves was dead and thus nobody planned on looking if he hadn’t shown up.  When asked about it, Graves had said he was rescued by a mysterious witch whose face he never saw.

Tina broadens her shoulders and holds her wand steady. This the moment where she really has to prove that she has what it takes to be Porpentina Scamander. Knocking on the case, Tina steps back as Newt’s head pops out.

“Hello, Ms. Goldstein,” he says pleasantly, he glances back behind him, probably looking at Jacob.

“Hello, Mr. Scamander.” Tina bites her lip. “Can you do me a favor? It’s important, more wildly important than you could ever imagine.”

Newt tilts his head curiously. “What do you mean exactly?”

“I need you and Mr. Kowalski to go out and capture the rest of your creatures. I’d look around Macy’s department store.”

“How do you kno-?”

Tina interrupts him with a shake of her head. “Go get your creatures, then go get Queenie. I need the three of you to learn everything you can about obscurials and how to extract them from their hosts.”

Newt looks at her defensively, he raises more out of the case, his wand at his hand. “What’s your interest in obscurials?”

Tina’s mind draws a black as she tries to think of why Newt would be so defensive about it. Maybe he had a family member who was an obscurial and it was hidden from the records? “That boy you saw outside of the bank earlier today. He’s an obscurial and I believe that Grindelwald may be personally hunting him down to be used a weapon.”

Newt’s fully out of the case now, his wand trained directly at Tina. “You want to  _ use _ him?”

“No!” Tina says in disbelief because how dare the man in charge of the creation of the werewolf registry accuse her of this. “I want to help him. He’s dying, Newt.”

Newt lowers his wand. “I’ve never heard of an obscurial living this long. I met one in Sudan. She was eight when she,” he looks down and his voice is choked with emotion. “She was eight when she died.”

“I had a student once,” Tina says softly, not entirely sure why she’s sharing this with Newt. “He was being beaten by his mother so I went to the board and reported it. But his mother was wealthy and was giving hefty donations to the school so everyone turned a blind eye.”

“Tina?” Newt puts his hand on her shoulder. “You don’t need to tell me this if you don’t want to.”

Tina can’t help but feel comforted by him. “I failed that student, but I won’t fail Credence.”

Newt nods. “We’ll catch the creatures and study with Queenie. What will you be doing?”

“I have an errand to run, I’ll meet you back at the apartment.”

Newt climbs back into the case to tell Jacob what’s going on, while Tina turns to search for Graves. She makes it two steps on the ice, before falling onto her back.

* * *

Dominique Graves was the granddaughter of Percival Graves. She was the head of the unspeakable department and a stubborn no-nonsense witch. She was in her sixties and possessed the strong magical force that ran through her bloodline. Dominique was from a founding family of the country, one that kept well versed in its secrets. The location of Graves manor in New York was always a mystery, but those involved with the time travel project were given the address for special one on one meetings with Dominique so she could test whether or not they’d mess up the past. The meetings were at the manor so nobody could listen in.

Tina apparates into the New York countryside, about a mile off from where the manor is. The wards accommodate her entry as she physically walks through them. She doesn’t dare apparate in case that would give some sort of warning to Grindelwald. Tina pulls out a flashlight that she took from Jacob’s apartment when they repaired it. She’s glad that she expanded her pockets even though the flashlight and the watch are the only things that have been in it so far.

When she reaches the massive front door, Tina pushes on the handle delicately. It swings open ominously, revealing a darkened foyer. Fear tugs at Tina’s heart as she stands in place outside. She wouldn’t play horror video games, and now she’s expecting herself to experience one in real life. Her flashlight flickers and she swears her strategy is just going to scream and throw whatever she has at whatever approaches her. If she thought the wards would have allowed other people, she would have definitely made Queenie come with her. Now, more so than ever, Tina wishes she’d gone with her plan B and become an auror.

“You’re Porpentina Scamander,” Tina whispers to herself. “You know for a fact that you survive this. You know for a fact that Percival Graves survives this. You’ll be a part of history, just like mom said.”

Tina takes the step into the foyer and shines the flashlight around.

“Will you turn that down?” A portrait yells at her.

“Sorry,” Tina mumbles, turning the light’s gaze to the floor. She closes the door behind herself before examining the place around her. Making sure not to get the light in the eyes of any of the portraits, can see that the foyer is well kept and grand. Two staircases lead up to the second floor, while archways lead to other places on the main level. There’s a heavy feeling of old powerful magic around her, it’s familiar to when Tina went to see Dominique. For whatever reason, Tina imagines that Percival Graves should he be here, is in the basement. It’s stereotypical, but Tina feels like Grindelwald has an appreciation for the classics.

“Where’s the basement?” She decides to ask the portrait who berated her. Gondulphus Graves opens one eye, he’s obviously trying to rest. “Down the right corridor, the doorway inside of the kitchen.”

“Thank you,” Tina says as she heads off in that direction. There isn’t a sound as Tina makes her way into the kitchen and down the stairs. The house is so maintained, there isn’t even a creak in the floorboards. She isn’t sure if that scares her or comforts her.

Walking down the stairs, Tina enters into a basement. It’s obviously used for storage as shelves are full of artifacts. Tina’s breath hitches and there’s nothing she’d love more to do than examine them. A soft groan from the shadows reminds Tina of her more important goal. She raises her flashlight up and sees Graves.

He’s shackled to a chair and a thick magical bubble surrounds him. A small bug flies into it and is disintegrated on the spot. Graves is wearing a button up shirt which is torn up from where Grindelwald must have hit him with something similar to a whip. His eyes are swollen shut from getting hit in the face, and he looks so skinny, that Tina can see his ribs through the holes in the shirt. Grindelwald is keeping him alive, but only just.

There must be some way to break the force field. Otherwise, Grindelwald wouldn’t be able to torture him. Tina moves over the shelves and looks for something that looks to be out of place or recently moved. It’d add another layer of torture for Graves to be in the same room as the object that would save him. Tina hopes Grindelwald hasn’t taken it with him. 

Her tiredness is starting to set in as she rests her head against the cool wood of the shelves. She can’t bring herself to focus as she rolls her shoulders, which are still sore from falling onto them. “Focus,” she mumbles to herself. Graves groans again in pain and Tina forces herself to pay attention. 

A weak form of adrenaline kicks in as she looks at all the artifacts. Most of them have carved symbols of early American history, so Tina eliminates them as possibilities for the time being. Standing up on her tiptoes, Tina can just barely see a knife with the deathly hallows sign carved into it. Jumping up, Tina snatches the knife and turns back to Graves.

Tina’s not sure where on the boundary she’s supposed to cut. Setting the knife on a lower shelf, Tina runs back up to the kitchen and searches for a bag of flour. After finding it, she runs back down the stairs and opens the bag. Tossing a handful at the boundary, it lights up momentarily. A tiny slit at the bottom doesn’t seem to react to the flour, so Tina sets down the bag and grabs the knife. She lies down on her stomach and carefully slides the blade of the knife against the floor and into the small space that didn’t react.

There’s a possibility that this might make the bubble smaller, killing Graves, but hindsight gives Tina enough confidence that something like that won’t happen. Tina pushes the knife side to side until there’s a soft clicking sound. Unsure if it’s actually broken, Tina grabs the flour again and throw it. The flour falls onto Graves, who hisses uncomfortably as it lands on his wounds.

Tina hurries over to him and tries to support his weight as much as she can as she drags him out of the boundary. Magic suppressing shackles are on his wrists and ankles. Laying him on the basement floor, Tina summons her wand out of its holster. She’s about to start healing him when fear sets in that it might alert Grindelwald. There’s no way she can drag Graves a mile to get out of the manor’s boundaries, and even if she could, she doesn’t have the time. She also doesn’t have enough specific knowledge of the artifacts to try to use them.

“Mr. Graves?” She whispers, nudging his shoulder gently. Tina really has no other ideas so it’s up to Graves to come up with something.

“Who are you?” Graves gasps, his voice raw and scratchy from lack of water. His eyes are too swollen to see anything.

“I’m here to rescue you,” she says softly. “Is there any way to get you out of the shackles?”

“Is Grindelwald after you?” He asks, trying to open his eyes more. “Who are you?”

“Please,” Tina whispers desperately. “Tell me what I need to do to save you.”

“I’ll get the house-elf,” Graves says. “They couldn’t hear me in the force field, but they can now.”

Graves calls out the house-elf’s name and a moment later the wrinkled creature appears before them. It only takes a moment for the house-elf to vanish Graves’s shackles.

Climbing up to her feet, Tina hurries out of the manor before Graves can identify her. She’s confident that he’ll be okay.

Running into the kitchen, Tina curses the fact that she forgot the flashlight. She doesn’t bother going back for it as she blindly maneuvers back out the way that she came. Exiting the manor, Tina makes her way to the apparation point.

* * *

There’s an hour and a half until the subway as Tina stumbles into the apartment. She falls face first onto the couch, similarly to how she did that morning. Newt’s case sits peacefully in the middle of the living room. Tina yawns loudly and tries to force her eyes to stay open. She really wishes Lysander was still around with that coffee. Digging the watch out of her pocket, Tina checks the time and contemplates whether or not she can take a nap. She makes sure to set the watch’s alarm for one hour and finally lets herself rest.

* * *

There’s a soft vibration against her wrist, waking Tina. As she sits up, she’s aware of two things. First off, her head is pounding and all she wants to do is go back to sleep. Secondly, she’s in a wooden shed and not on the couch in Queenie’s apartment. “Hello?” She calls out, resting her hand against the side of her head. The shed is full of pieces of paper, an assortment of herbs, empty cages, and Tina swears that she sees a few billywigs fly above her. This must be Newt’s case.

Climbing awkwardly off the mattress, Tina glances up the ladder. There’s a small handle on the roof, which must open the case when Newt needs to get out. Turning towards the door, Tina takes a deep breath and pushes it open. A soft gasp leaves her lips as she looks around. Light seems to be pouring warmly from unknown sources as habitats spread out around her. Each of them is habited by creatures. The sound of life echoes around her ears and an earthy sent goes through her nose. Even though Tina’s aware that she’s awake, she feels as the though the case is something she could only imagine in her most wild and beautiful dreams.

Newt, Queenie, and Jacob sit in a circle in front of the thunderbird. Newt’s notes about the Sudanese girl is between the three of them. They look over when Tina exits the shed.

“You should go back to sleep,” Newt says to her gently. “We have it all handled. We’re thinking about approaching Credence once we have all of our notes in place. We’ll build his trust then we’ll see if we can free him. I was hoping to gain his trust by the end of the week since that’s when I have to leave, maybe I can take him with me.”

Tina’s only really half aware of what he’s saying. That nap just made her more aware of how fatigued she is. “We don’t have a week, we have half an hour.” She walks over to them and joins them in the circle.

Jacob laughs a bit in confusion. “What do you mean we have half an hour? What happens then?”

Tina rubs her eyes. “He killed a senator and his mother is going to take the beatings too far, so he’s going to kill her tonight. Once she’s dead and Grindelwald provokes him again, Credence is going to destroy the city.”

Queenie gasps and covers her mouth, tears welling in her eyes. “Teenie, that’s horrible.”

“You’re a seer,” Newt gasps softly. “That’s how you knew where the creatures were, and that’s how you know about Credence.”

Tina nods, figuring that makes things a lot easier to explain. “We need to go after him tonight.”

Jacob looks at Tina. “What can I do to help? I don’t have the same skills as you guys.”

“We’ll need you to watch after the case. Newt, Queenie, and I need to be completely focused on Credence.”

Queenie grabs onto Jacob’s arm. “We’ll all be okay, don’t you worry.”

Newt bites the corner of his lip as he gently tucks Tina’s hair out of her face. Tina can’t help but be a little startled by this. “Credence is lucky to have you,” Newt says softly.

Tina’s heart beats loudly in her ears. Is Newt really attracted to her this quickly? She’d be lying if she said he wasn’t handsome, but she isn’t sure if she actually likes him, or if she’s convincing herself because she knows she’s going to end up with him.

“Thank you,” she responds, making eye contact with him. Newt looks back at her for a few seconds before looking back down the ground and moving his hand away. “I have some energy replenishing potions if you need one.”

“That’d be nice,” she says. Just as the words leave her mouth, the thunderbird starts acting up.

Newt looks up at him. “Danger. He senses danger.”

* * *

Tina sits on a bench in the subway between Newt and Queenie. Above them, the devastation is wrecked upon the city. The ground above them shakes as the obscurus moves through the city.

Queenie has her head between her knees as she tries not to hear the panicked thoughts of the civilians. Tina rests her hand on Queenie’s back to keep them both grounded. Newt is rubbing the inside of his coat pocket almost religiously as they wait for Credence. It’s like some odd form of torture for them all.

Eventually, after what feels like forever, a figure walks down the staircase. Tina stands quickly and looks at Credence. His eyes are red, his cheeks are tearstained, and a black smoke hovers around him.

Any words she has to say to him die at the tip of her tongue. She really should have taken the time to speak to Credence at the bank so she could have established some sort of relationship.

“I’ve met someone just like you Credence.” Newt stands in front of Tina and puts his hands up where Credence can see them. Credence keeps glancing down at the tracks, and Tina knows he’s probably trying to get off the platform to hide.

“A girl,” Newt continues, “a young girl who’d been imprisoned. She had been locked away and she’d been punished for her magic.”

Credence connects with this story and the smoke seems to float back into his body. He shrinks down onto his knees. Queenie grabs Tina’s elbow as Newt hesitantly crouches down on the ground to Credence’s level.

“Credence?” Newt asks. “Can I come over to you?” Credence looks up at Newt curiously, his eyes still guarded. “Can I come over?” Credence still obviously doesn’t trust Newt, so Newt decides to stand up and give him some space.

Just as Newt straightens up, a spell throws him onto the staircase. Credence takes the distraction to jump down onto the tracks and down the tunnel. More spells come propelling at Tina and Queenie, who both quickly throw up shield charms. Newt climbs back up onto his feet and helps them.

Grindelwald steps into view from the tracks below.

“Mr. Graves,” Queenie breathes in disbelief.

Newt sends a spell back at Grindelwald who carelessly flicks it away. A rattling is heard from down the tunnel as a subway speeds towards them. Grindelwald stops and uses wandless magic to move Credence out of the way. Once the subway speeds past, Newt runs forward and jumps down onto the track, making himself a human barrier between Grindelwald and Credence. Queenie and Tina jump down after Newt, who most definitely out the three of them has the most dueling experience.

Grindelwald electrifies the track and sends it flying up, causing Newt to fall backward onto the ground. Winding his wand back, Grindelwald prepares to send electrifying spells at Newt directly.

“Stop it!” Queenie screams, running forward and casting a strong shielding charm between Grindelwald and Newt. Tina looks back at Credence who is obviously terrified by the attack. 

Credence is rapidly turning back into smoke as the obscurus takes over his body. Thick black webs make their way across the ceiling as everyone stops attacking each other look up at him.

Grindelwald drops down onto his knees and looks up at Credence. The obscurus makes a noise similar to a scream before spreading out to attack them all. The four of them all dive in different directions, each apparating around the subway station to avoid being consumed by the obscurus. There’s a loud bang as Credence disappears from view, the obscurus flying up above the ground. Tina looks around to see that Queenie is hiding on the staircase while Newt is sprawled out on the tracks. Tina takes a shaky breath as she keeps her body pressed against the column. A moment later, Credence slams back onto the platform, his obscure form becoming more condensed. Grindelwald apparates just in time to avoid being killed and is now directly behind Newt. Both men look at the obscurus as it screams.

“Credence, no!” Tina comes out from behind her column and looks sadly at the obscurus. “Don’t do this, please.” She wishes more than anything that she could alleviate his pain. She wishes that she could express just how much better his life will become. She wishes that she could somehow let Credence know how much he’ll be loved and appreciated in the future.

“Keep talking, Tina,” Newt urges. “Keep talking to him, he’ll listen to you. He’s listening.”

Tina looks at Credence who’s becoming more solid. She thinks about how her own future is set up to go well, but at this moment she still has insecurities and fears. Even if she could tell Credence how everything pans out, it still doesn’t erase the hurt he’s currently feeling. If anything, it invalidates it. It’s important to acknowledge his past and his present. “I know what the woman did you. I know that you’ve suffered. You need to stop this now. Newt and I will protect you. This man,” she glances quickly to Grindelwald before looking back at Credence, “he’s using you.”

Newt looks back at Tina with wide eyes, remembering the conversation they had earlier about Grindelwald using the powers obscurials have. Tina nods to him quickly solidifying the thoughts running through Newt’s head. Queenie has come to a similar conclusion from reading their thoughts. 

While Tina made sure the other two realized that Grindelwald stole Graves’s appearance, Grindelwald has been working on calming Credence down. Tina steps closer as aurors come running down the stairs, knocking Queenie out of the way. More aurors come from behind Tina in the tunnel. President Picquery is leading them. Their wands raised at Credence.

“Shh,” Tina stresses. “Don’t, you’ll frighten him!”

Some of the aurors train their wands on Tina, having never seen her before. They’re unsure if she’s a threat like Credence is.

“Wands down,” Grindelwald commands. “Anyone harms him, they answer to me.”

Both Tina and Grindelwald make another attempt to calm Credence down when all of the aurors raise their wands, spells on their lips, ready to kill Credence on the spot.

“Stop!” A new voice joins the mix, and emerging from the side of the tunnel behind Credence, stands the real Percival Graves. He’s wearing a full suit, and his eyes are open. He still looks too skinny and sickly, but he stands on his own.

Grindelwald’s hands shake with fury. “Aurors, arrest the imposter.”

Tina ignores the shouts between the aurors, Grindelwald, and Graves. She climbs back onto the platform and approaches Credence, who’s starting to get more smokey. “I can help you,” she says softly, copying Newt’s slows movements from earlier. “I can take you away from here.”

In the corner of her eye, Tina sees the swooping evil fly up into the air, a moment later, Newt has tight ropes bounding Grindelwald’s body.

The aurors are split between wands on Credence, wands on Grindelwald, and wands on Graves.

“Revilio,” Newt casts, his wand held steady in his hand. Graves’s face melts off of Grindelwald.

Credence slowly reverts back to his normal body, he’s rocking where he sits. Tina moves closer to him and gently places a hand on his shoulder.

“Do you think you can hold me?” Grindelwald asks to Graves and Picquery.

“We’ll do our best,” the president responds as aurors lift Grindelwald up.

Grindelwald is about to say something to Newt, but Newt’s already jogged over to Tina and Credence. Queenie joins them, and the three of them stand between Credence and MACUSA.

“Goldstein,” Picquery says to Queenie, looking at both Tina and Newt suspiciously. “Who are these people?”

“Well Madam President,” Queenie says hesitantly. “This here is Mr. Newt Scamander. He’s a magizoologist from England.”

Newt nods his head awkwardly.

“And this is my sister, Tina,” Queenie says, grabbing onto Tina’s elbow again.

“Hello ma’am,” Tina says softly.

“Goldstein, I wasn’t aware that you had a sibling,” Picquery says, obviously prepared to arrest them if it wasn’t for the fact that Credence seems to be comforted by their presence.

“Well, when I met Ms. Goldstein,” Graves pipes up. “She seemed shy and I believe a records error keeps magically erasing her name. I’ve come across it several times before.”

Tina can’t help but drop her jaw as Graves blatantly lies for her. He must recognize her voice and he must have used some form of legilimency once she freed him for the force field. This is him paying back the life debt he owes her.

“Yes well, someone go make a new identity for Ms. Goldstein,” Picquery instructs. She then turns her attention to Newt with a sigh. “In your field of experience, have you come across something like this boy before?”

Newt glances back at Credence. “I can help him.”

“You’ll be monitored until you can do that Mr. Scamander,” Picquery says. The president walks over to the hole in ground and sighs. “Although I’m not sure what the point would be. Wizardkind has been exposed and we can’t oblivate an entire city.”

“Maybe,” Newt says thoughtfully. “We can.”

He turns to Tina. “Will you get my case from the apartment?”

Tina nods and looks at Picquery and Graves before apparating away. 

* * *

Running up the stairs of the apartment, Tina walks into the living room. Jacob sits at the windowsill, the case gripped tightly in his hands.

“We have Credence, everything is okay,” Tina says as he looks at her. “Newt needs the case.”

Jacob nods and walks over to her. “Let’s go.”

Tina shakes her head and takes the case from him. “They’ll oblivate you if they see you. I need you to stay here and not touch any of the rain, and don’t drink or touch any water.”

“When will you guys be back?” He asks.

“Soon,” Tina smiles at him and heads back out before stopping and turning back to him. She hasn’t taken a moment to really appreciate that he’s here. He looks so much like her grandfather it almost makes her want to cry. It’s from Jacob that she inherited her brown eyes and her patience to sit down and do a good job on things. “I’m glad you’re here with us.”

* * *

Apparating back into the subway, Tina sets down the suitcase. Newt ushers Credence in gently before summoning the thunderbird out of it.

A reporter from the New York Ghost moves in as she takes pictures of Newt saying goodbye to the thunderbird. Tina moves to blend in with the crowd, knowing that Porpentina Scamander’s name is scarcely mentioned in the official story. All around them, aurors rebuild the city. Newt receives special thanks from the president while Queenie moves over to talk to Tina.

“It’s been a crazy day,” Queenie says.

“You’re telling me,” Tina responds, lowering herself to sit on the bench they were sitting on earlier. “I kind of don’t know what to do with myself now.”

“Well,” Queenie says with a small smile. “You mentioned that you were a professor in the future, so I did a little digging while you were at the bank, and I saw that Hogwarts is looking for a History of Magic professor.”

“Are you saying I should move to Scotland?” Tina asks.

“You’d get to teach and,” Queenie playfully nudges her shoulder against Tina’s, “you’d get to spend time with a certain brit.”

Tina’s face flushes as she looks down. “It’s not like that yet.”

“Yet,” Queenie says excitedly. “Newt’s a good guy and you’ll get to continue doing what you love.”

For the first time since arriving in the past, Tina feels real hope starting to grow. She looks over at Newt who holds his case protectively against his side. He’s a caring man, which is what Tina cares about the most. He may have created the werewolf registry, but now Tina’s starting to feel like there was an ulterior motive that history isn’t seeing.

“I need to stay here for six months,” Tina explains. “There’s someone I need to say goodbye too.” She’s going to send Lysander back to the present with a letter to her grandparents, apologizing for leaving them. “But then after that, maybe I will go with Newt.”

Queenie smiles at her encouragingly. “You’ll have to come back and visit because I’ll miss you. Besides, you have to make sure that name my kids the right things.”

Tina smiles at Queenie as the crowd starts to dwindle. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”

“Thank you for being my family,” Queenie responds, pulling her into a hug.

Newt approaches them and rubs the back of his head. “MACUSA is offering me a place to stay while I try to help Credence.”

Queenie pulls Newt and Tina along was they walk out of the underground. Rain falls onto them, but their magic counteracts any effect it might have on them. “Let’s go get Jacob, eat some breakfast, then finally go to bed,” Queenie says.

Tina grabs onto Newt’s hand, smiling a bit to herself as his face fills with a blush. “I’d like that.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to space this out into multiple chapters, but then I got overly inspired and finished the entire fic in one day.


End file.
